PRICE ON TEST

The Dutch Minister of Transport, T Netelenbos, has recently expressed doubts about the future of road pricing in The Netherlands by suggesting a more cautious approach. In a widely reported speech, she said that she would prefer to see a pilot site for electronic road pricing (ERP) in one city only, instead of the proposed introduction of a system designed to cover all roads in four large cities. Tests of the ERP equipment on the A12 motorway have been completed, and their results are now being evaluated, with results expected in June 1999. However, there no longer seems to be the political will to continue the scheme in its present form, and none of the cities originally chosen for the system want to be the only ones to have it. If these difficulties can be resolved, it is planned to impose a tolling regime on all vehicles entering the four cities between 0700 and 0900 on a weekday, and to introduce this regime by 2001. Research suggests that ERP here could reduce peak traffic by 10-15%. The Dutch system will rely on a combination of overhead detection equipment and in-car devices using microwave communication at 5.8GHz, supported by infrared cameras photographing number plates. It has been designed to cater for occasional users, and it will not be compulsory to install an in-car device.